The world’s fact-checkers will gather in Antwerp, Belgium, for GlobalFact 2027, the 14th edition of the field’s largest professional meeting. The EFCSN will co-host the flagship event a second year in a row together with the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN) at Poynter. Lead Stories led the winning bid to host the conference in Antwerp. Public broadcaster VRT will serve as media partner, and the nonprofit deCheckers will coordinate volunteers.
“Fact-checking journalists from around the world will receive a warm welcome in the heart of Europe,” said Angie Drobnic Holan, IFCN director. “Our conference builds face-to-face trust among our community and its supporters. GlobalFact remains our flagship event for exchanging best practices, finding peer support, and developing new initiatives for an AI-driven future.”
“We’re excited to welcome fact-checkers from around the world to Belgium, and to be working again with EFCSN, now alongside VRT, Lead Stories and deCheckers,” Holan added.
Conference themes for 2027 will be curated to address a range of global issues, including military conflicts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East; the impact of artificial intelligence; and the prevention of scams and fraud that cross borders. Special sessions on safety and mental health are also planned.
Antwerp is a short train ride from Brussels, where European Union institutions study information integrity and consider rules to improve public access to high quality information, to prevent frauds and scams, and to counter coordinated disinformation campaigns.
A summit for everyone working on information integrity
“Europe is home to a vibrant fact-checking community and strong traditions of press freedom and free expression,” said Stephan Mündges, the EFCSN coordinator. “GlobalFact 2027 will tackle the pressing issues information integrity professionals are facing: How to ensure that AI works towards information integrity, not against it; how to defend information spaces against manipulation attempts; how to regulate Big Tech effectively but without stifling innovation or free speech.”
Antwerp’s 570,000 residents represent more than 170 nationalities, according to local authorities. The hosts say that this diversity makes the city a useful place to study how false claims cross borders and languages and how conflicts abroad affect local communities.
Maarten Schenk, the Belgium-based chief technology officer of Lead Stories and an IFCN advisory board member, called Antwerp a “fantastic place to meet new people, discover new things and exchange ideas.”
The conference dates have yet to be determined and will be announced in the months ahead.
About the GlobalFact conference series
Since 2014, more than 5,000 people have attended GlobalFact in cities including London, Buenos Aires, Madrid, Rome, Cape Town, Oslo, Seoul and Rio de Janeiro. Thousands more joined the virtual conferences held during the COVID-19 pandemic.
